Sunday, August 30, 2009

This quilt looks harder than it really is. I had intended to have a cream print background around it, and then a wide border made from a border print. I auditioned at least 30 fabrics for the cream background and nothing seemed to be working. One evening we had another couple over and we were sitting in the area where the quilt was on the design wall. I told my friend Dolly how I just couldn't find a fabric that would work.My DH Jerry, who up until that time would say "I don't understand it" when he looked at my quilts made a brilliant statement.He said "Why does it have to be square?"That was what the quilt had been trying to tell me but I wasn't listening.

It was DONE!!!!!!I finished the quilt with a very dark narrow binding and it was perfect.I have also made this quilt in two other colorways that you probably will see at another time.This quilt showcases beautiful fabric. I've taught this as a class titled "Jerry's Quilt".Until I added that small amount of the light bright turquoise print the quilt just died it was SO dull.

I've rotated the quilt 45 degrees so you can see just how deceptively simple it really is.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Where have you seen most of these fabrics before?That's right - in my last post. I designed this quilt first using those fabrics. The quilt was great but it was too big for the challenge rules so I used the left overs for the last one you saw which was my challenge entry.

You will have to wait until my next post to find out why this is called Jerry's quilt!

The five red squares in the center are each pieced from 4 triangles to get the medallion design. The outer fabric is a border print that I fussy cut to get the effect I was after.

This is also a quilt I taught classes on how to make.

You can put this together while you ponder why in the world it is called Jerry's quilt!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I tend to make a lot of quilts with irregular shapes. Santa Fe Rhythym was made for a guild challenge.We were given the three blue prints and the 3 green prints. Each color had 3 values and the prints were even duplicated in each color range. Not only that, they were all cool colors. I actually even used the wrong side of some of them to get a greater value range.

I knew they needed something to punch them up and decided to use the Santa Fe type print as it was just the thing do make it work. For the 16 point star I used both the right and wrong side to give it the 3 dimensional look. To get the same design in mirror image I fussy cut from 8 yards of this fabric. I have 8 yards of this fabric with about 5% missing!

Have you ever tried to make a 16 point star with out having a hole in the middle? I was ready for that to happen so I expected to applique something over the hole.I was pleasantly surprised when there was NO hole!

Do you start at the center (where there is not hole!) when you do a puzzle or do you start at the edges?

Monday, August 24, 2009

This is the quilt done by the student who called to tell me she was able to make her panel work. The panel was one of the Strawberry Shortcake characters. She certainly made lemonade out of a lemon!This also made an attreactive design. It was a kangaroo mother and baby panel. It's hard to tell what these designs started with unless you have seen the panels. The goal of the exercise was to produce an effective design with something you would never choose to work with.There were many exercises in this class, each teaching something about using different design challenges to create a quilt.When I came across this photo I thought it looked like the above quilt but it wasn't the same.Because of the shape of the quilt it gives a totally different shape when it was turned slightly.

If you haven't guessed what the panels for the quilts on my last post were the top one was a Christmas rocking horse and the second one was a hen and her chicks.

This shows the back of the rocking horse quilt. I used a full panel to show what it was cut from for the envelope pocket on the back of the quilt.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Long before anyone had heard of Stack and Whack I made these quilts from triangles. I stacked 6 layers of a fabric and cut 6 identical triangles from each part of the design. this one is hand quilted.This is another quilt that I made the same way. It is machine quilted.

I also had my students do this in my Graduate School for Quilters: Design class.I gave each of them the fabric and it was up to them to create an interesting design with what they were given.

There was one group of fabrics I felt it was going to be impossible for anyone to make work in an attractive manner. The student called me and said it really was good.I thought she was just being her usual nice pleasant self. It was really good. Stay tuned for the results of this design exercise.

What were those unique fabrics I gave each student? They were those cut and stuff panels of different creatures, etc.

Can you guess what my two quilts started life as? If you don't figure it out watch for the answer on my next post!

So tonight you have not only a puzzle but you have to figure out what the quilts started their lives as!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

I don't think I was influenced by a particular quilt I had seen when I made this quilt. I did select fabrics that had a traditional look to them. I call this the "Mystery Quilt".

Of course this was made by sewing strips into strata and then sub cutting them with an equilateral triangle ruler. The pieced triangles alternate with plain triangles. It was a fun quilt to make.

I ended up with so many extra triangles I was able to make 7 placemats from the left overs. I have black dishes in my kitchen and they look great with them.

I also taught it as a workshop/class and it was very well received.

Here is my friend Sally building her mystery quilt on a design wall. Do you remember Sally? She has been known to stand on the counter to preview her designs but this is a much safer was to design a quilt. What a wonderful combination of fabrics she used.

This is one of those quilts that is very effective in both traditional or contemporary fabric. It relies on a balanced group of fabrics. I also found it was more effective using only prints. The ones I started using prints and solids are still in pieces in a box. I believe I put them on my rework or abandon list.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

This is about as traditional as you can get. It is a traditional pattern done as a bed size quilt. You see it here as part of the stack of quilts on the bed in my studio.

It is made from what I call "cutsey calicos". You may notice the blue print is different in the 4 center blocks. I cut out the quilt, started to assemble the blocks and then put it aside while I did other projects.

When I took it out again I was short blue fabric. Without realizing it I had used it in a different project. So being upset with myself for doing something so stupid I came up with the idea of using a second blue print. It did make the quilt a little more interesting. This is one of a few quilts I have had quilted by a long arm quilter.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I designed this quilt block as a gift to my students for the 15th anniversary of my shop many years ago.It was included in my newsletter and I asked people to figure out the significance of the design.

Can you figure it out?

This block is a very traditional type of design. I had heard there is no such thing as an original symetrical block of this type. I researched all my quilt books and publications and did not find anything like this block so I can say with confidence it is an original block with a very traditional look.

I choose colors that were not common at the time I designed it, but the fabrics and block do make the quilt look quite traditional.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Years ago Mary Ellen Hopkins wrote a book that made it easier to make a double wedding ring quilt. You have already seen my version with the pieced arcs.This one is done with a print for the arc piece.This saves you all the work of piecing the arcs. If you choose an interesting print this can be a very effective quilt.The solid black is polished cotton and shows off the quilting well.This is in a private collection and the owner gave me the photo showing it hanging in their home. It is perfect in their country home. Their collection includes several quilts I made.The photo is clear enough that you can see the quilting if you enlarge it. I believe the quilting design in the black sections is from her book if I remember right!

I've used a circular cut here to go with the circular effect of the rings in the quilt.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

This is another quilt in a very traditional look.I sent this quilt to one of the people who used to do some hand quilting for me. It wasn't returned and I didn't follow up as there were other priorities in my life at the time.About 5 years later I received a letter from someone who wanted to do some quilting for me. She was a friend of the quilter I had sent this one to. I wrote and asked her if she could ask her friend about this quilt. Her friend had moved to a different part of the country. She did get back in contact with me and the quilt was quilted and returned to me.

However the condition of the quilt was very faded and it didn't look great. I have no idea why the quilt looked this bad. The photo looks better than the quilt itself. I would be sarisfied if the quilt looked as sharp as the photo!

I did trim, bind and finish it but I have a note to myself to do something to the quilt to make it usable - paint, dye, applique over, or ??????????????????

What would you do?

I am pleased with the design of the quilt but the condition leaves a lot to be desired.

This quilt is probably about 24 x 40 inches so it is not a great loss if I can't salvage it. It is the only negative experience I've had sending quilts to be quilted so I can just chalk this up to experience and go on.

This is the second quilt in a 3 quilt series with the same colorations.My son's family owns the first quilt in the series and it has looked great in all the places they have lived with whatever colors are in the room.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Although this has a very traditional quilt look, it is not a replication nor a copy of an antique quilt. I did choose subtle color fabrics with prints that were reminiscent of old fabrics.

This is the blankie I use in Florida. I designed it to use the alphabet fabric Jinny Beyer designed quite some time ago. Each nine patch has a letter or number in the center square.I also have included other information above and below the nine patch section.

I took this quilt to a long arm quilter and had her machine baste it for me. I don't enjoy the basting process so this was a great solution to avoid this. I don't think I know any quilters who really enjoy the basting process.

I used a cotton batting that would shrink when I washed it after it was quilted. I like the flat look it has now so I won't wash it until it needs cleaning.

I am using the Jigzone cut as letters seem so appropriate for this quilt puzzle.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

This quilt was a breakthrough for me as a quilter.I had just recieved Quilts Newsletter Magazine No. 74.In it was an article by Barbara Johannah about how to make half square triangles by drawing them on a piece of fabric, placing it right side together with another piece of fabric, stitching on both sides of the diagonal and cutting them apart. Voila! I was so excited and had to make something RIGHT away.She used 1/2 inch seam allowances and I followed her directions to the letter.I had seen this design in an old McCalls Quilting publication but they did it with smaller triangles and used a tiny yellow print, a tiny red print and cut each piece individually.I thought I was being SO creative when I changed the size and the fabrics! I also hand quilted it 1/2 inch away from the seam lines!!!!! (Except for the one seam I missed and is still not quilted 32 years later)This is my blankie and it is sitting on a foot stool less than 5 feet from me as I write this. It has traveled many places with me. If I want to take a nap I don't crawl into bed, I just cover myself from the tip of my toes to my neck with it and I'm sleeping in less than 5 minutes. When I travel and want to take a nap in a strange bed it also does the trick there.One thing I didn't realize when I made this is for every square you drew you got two half square triangle squares after you sewed them together. Somewhere upstairs in a box there are enough pieces to make another quilt or do something else with them.

Once I learned how to do this there was NO stopping me. Within the week I made the quilt on the cover of that same issue of QN as a queen size quilt. I couldn't find any directions for it so I just measured it and figured out how to do it. Several years later I found out the cover quilt was only a crib size quilt but I had just doubled all their measurements!

Of course I had to use a triangle cut for this break through half square triangle quilt!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

A group of quilting friends got together to make half square triangles. We were each instructed to bring blue fabrics. At the time we did this blue fabrics were the fabrics that were the most popular.We ended up staying up almost all night and piecing a gazillion blue half square triangles to make Lady of the Lake quilts.When we started to get tired we went for a walk around the "lake" in the condo development. It was a beautiful summer evening and we came back recharged and made more of these.We slept for a few hours when we got too tired to go on.We each went home with about an 1/8th gazillion of them.

I lived almost an hour away so as I drove home I decided I had to add some red to my quilt. To bridge the gap between the red and blue I needed to add purple.At the time I made this I still worked downstairs so I didn't have the large design walls I have now. I hung up a piece of batting and arranged them until I was satisfied with the placement and design.I added a narrow navy border and then added a half square triangle to use some of the gazillion triangles that were left. The final border is a stripe fabric.

I named this Gardens of the Grand Hotel as the placement of the colors reminded me of the color placement of the lovely gardens of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan.

When you do a puzzle do you start from the center or the edge? The puzzle cut is half square triangles this itme.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

I have decided to continue showing you some of my more traditional quilts for several more posts.I thought it would be a great idea for the family to make a signature quilt for my Dad for his 75th birthday almost 20 years ago.Of course I was the only one in the family who quilted.I sent squares to the rest of the family to sign and when they were all returned I chose this design for the quilt.It was one of those "EASY" album quilts. Things are easy when you follow the directions and sew them together as it should be done.When you get too confident that's when the problems begin.I made the top left diagonal section with no problems.I decided it would be easier to make the other half and then sew the two together.After completing that half I realized I had done it backwards and it looked exactly like the top half. I couldn't sew them together like that.So I had to take apart each seam where i had joined the rows. Do you realize how long that took - even for me who considered herself the workds best seam ripper?I added the border print as the border and machine quilted it.He was very pleased with it.

I am sure it will be much easier for you to put this puzzle together than it was for me to piece this quilt!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

You have now seen all the quilts from My Historic Concepts - Contemporary Systems series. If you have missed any all you have to do is put Historic Concepts in the box at the top left corner on the blog page and they will all show up.This quilt was done with strata and a tubular piecing technique making it super easy to construct.The hand quilting is simple diagonal lines that relate to the the corners of the bricks.

I've used my tension curtain rod trick to hang this quilt in a guest room to hide a lot of things that are not meant to be on display!

I believe the appropriate cut for this Black and White Bricks quilt puzzle is the bricks cut. Enjoy!